JUDGE FAILS TO SET SMITH TRIAL DATE, PLACE

A daylong hearing in the William Kennedy Smith rape case left more questions than it answered on Friday, not the least of which were the date and place of trial.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Mary Lupo did not rule on state requests that the trial be moved and that a date be set.

Assistant State Attorney Moira Lasch asked to try the case in the next two months or less. Defense attorney Roy Black said three months would be reasonable, in light of a burst of publicity last week when prosecutors said three other women came forward to accuse Smith of sexual misconduct.

Three months might provide enough time for memories to fade, testified John McConahay, a defense-commissioned expert on public opinion polls.

In a hearing on Wednesday, Lupo granted a defense request to postpone the trial, which had been set for Aug. 4.

Smith, 30-year-old nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is charged with raping a 29-year-old Jupiter woman on March 30 at the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate.

Lupo left open the question of where the trial will take place, or whether she would allow a hearing on the matter.

Lasch asked the judge to select a "neutral forum" to avoid any problem on appeal and urged Lupo to make the decision quickly so that arrangements with another judicial circuit could be made.

"Let's do it now, Judge Lupo, and let's go on with the trial," she said.

Black, who dropped his earlier demand for a venue change after getting the trial postponed, said the state had no authority to make the request.

Lupo suggested a problem with Black's suggested trial date in November, in that jurors would be reluctant to serve if they are to be sequestered over a holiday.

"I can already see what's happening," Lasch said. "Let's go on to 1992, let's see how long this woman can stick with this case."

She insisted that an earlier trial date was the only option.

Lasch also demanded that the judge give defense attorneys a two-week deadline for taking the woman's deposition. The woman had been "quite anxious" to give her statement to defense attorneys on July 29, as scheduled, and was disappointed when they postponed it indefinitely.

"Let this woman see she has rights in the Palm Beach County court system when she reports rape by a prominent person," Lasch told the judge.

The woman also wants to know what, if any, of her sexual past will be admitted at trial. Under the state's rape shield law, such evidence is inadmissible, but defense attorneys may argue specific points in a closed-door hearing.

Defense attorneys postponed a hearing on the rape shield law, which the state had called, because they had not deposed the woman.

In other motions argued, but not ruled upon:

-- A defense request that the prosecutors be sanctioned for releasing the other women's statements on July 23, and that the state give it 48 hours notice before filing anything to give the defense time to object.

-- A defense request that cameras be excluded from the courtroom.

-- A defense motion to dismiss charges because of prosecutorial misconduct.

-- A state motion to order the defense to schedule a hearing on its motion to dismiss.

-- A defense request to independently test the woman's blood drawn on March 30.